Jupiters Gold Coast unveils permanent living art installation

In a dazzling demonstration of technology meets art, Jupiters Gold Coast has unveiled a highly innovative lighting design that will act as a permanent living art installation.

Thousands of lights mounted to 17 palm trees at the property’s porte-cochère will serve to enhance the property’s beautiful island landscape, offering visitors and guests a truly unique and innovative lighting display.

The intricate design is the first of its kind with more than 10,500 individual pixel nodes illuminating the iconic palms to create a natural 20 metre-wide by 10 metre-high 3D digital screen.

The Star Entertainment Group’s Managing Director Queensland Geoff Hogg said this latest project, which forms part of Jupiters’ AUD$345 million transformation, was sure to create a long-lasting impression for visitors and guests.

“We are passionate about investing in the future and are committed to offering our guests a unique and memorable experience from the very moment of their arrival,” Hogg said.

“The innovative technology used for our porte-cochère system is state-of-the-art and something we’ll be able to tailor to property-specific events to enhance the atmospherical experience for our guests,” he said.

Undertaken by specialist lighting design company Ramus and leading electrical and communications company Stowe Australia, the collaborative project utilised the skills of up to 20 specialist trades including a world-renowned lighting designer.

Creative Director and Designer Bruce Ramus, who has been responsible for lighting up national icons such as the Sydney Opera House, said they were extremely proud of the Jupiters Gold Coast project.

“We have designed a luminous artwork that is an attraction in its own right, and acts as a beacon to complement the property’s vast natural landscape,” Ramus said.

“The trees naturally frame the experience of those visitors entering the resort and we sought to enhance this experience at night, by reflecting that anticipatory energy through light.

“It is the first of its kind; a living light-art installation to frame the entrance of the resort.”

The lighting technology itself is quite complex with the lights pixel-mapped, programmed, and then rendered to video files. Bespoke multi-node mapping software allows for a 2D video signal image to accurately map to pixels within an organically shaped 3D environment.

Stowe Australia was given the enormous task of bringing the vision to life and in conjunction with Xenian (supplier of leading edge lighting technology), dedicated a mammoth 2600 man-hours to the unique installation which required an incredible 10 kilometres of electrical cabling to complete.

The environmentally sustainable project will also make use of a new streamlined control system to assist in lowering power consumption and significantly reduce operating costs and carbon emissions. The average lifespan of each light is expected to last decades, while every measure possible was taken to ensure the installation had no impact on the wellbeing of the trees.

The porte-cochère lighting project marks yet another milestone in Jupiters’ landmark transformation which is on track to be completed prior to the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games. The property’s almost 600 existing hotel rooms are scheduled for completion by the end of 2016, while construction of the new six-star all-suite hotel tower continues at the front of the property.